Automatic bowling scorekeeping system



June 23, 1970 M. DANIELSON AUTOMATIC BOWLING SCOREKEEPING SYSTEM Filed Oct. 4, 1967 fSSheets-Sheet 1 v wsouTPuT STATES (H 44d r' 16o Illl; Hll r PIN FALL k WORD n WORD FOUL {16b gm CLOCK DETECT GEN. DECODE ifig COUMER SWITCH :63

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INVENTOR MARK DANIELSON HUB June 23, 1970 M. DANIELSON 3,516,665

- AUTOMATIC BOWLING SCQREKEEPING SYSTEM Filed Oct. 4, 1967 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 FOUL WORD 12 GEN.

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June 23, 1970 DANIELSON AUTOMATIC BOWLING SCOREKEEPING SYSTEM 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed Oct. 4, 1967 CLEAR FOUL MEMORY CLEAR X/ F/F ENABLE TT SW i RESET STATE 3 PC-2 SETX/ FF A L CLEAR T0 CTR ENTERT IN P52 ENABLE PC )5 ENTER Bi COUNTINPTRTT ENABLE I0 CTR 5 START SHUTTLE 82' F- CLEAR PIN CTR COMPARE F-2 H OH TT STOP SHUTTLE TDFFZ TER TO IN =1 ENABLETOCTR F+B2-F-(i0CTR-L2) PC'TZ) ENTER C INPTLTT B2 ENABLE PC June 23, 1970- MDAMELSON 3,516,665

AUTOMATIC BOWLING SCOREKEEPING SYSTEM Filed 001;. 4, 1967 5 SheetsSheet 4 xuocm=m (PlNCTR=12)-B2 =10) START SHUTTLE COMPARE FOR F CLEAR 1O CTR PRINT FBI-2 i QB1'X-m-FTT'F7+B2-F=H7|)( m-x-FFWW) I won: {6 ENABLEIAO cm PT A mom-1o ENTER 10 m PTATT I HOME SHUTTLE B2+B1-X SET PX/ MEMORY B2+B1-X ADVANCE FRAME MEMORY SWITCH BALL F/F NEXT CLOCK 5 END OF FRAME RELEASE PLAYER RELAY CLEAR TTS MEMORY FIG. 3B

United States Patent 3,516,665 AUTOMATIC BOWLING SCOREKEEPING SYSTEM Mark Danielson, Mountain View, Calif., assignor to Doban Labs, Inc., Sunnyvale, Calif., a corporation of California Filed Oct. 4, 1967, Ser. No. 672,834 Int. Cl. A63d 5/00 US. Cl. 27354 2 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE An automatic bowling scoring system provides a measure of pin fall by pin position, as well as a serial pulse train in which the pulses indicate the position of fallen pins. This pin fall count is utilized to store measures of pin fall on each ball, as well as player and team totals, and this information is printed at the appropriate times during the game.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS The printing mechanism described herein is more fully described and claimed in copending application Ser. No. 648,863, now Patent No. 3,440,956. The display device described herein for displaying the team. total score is more fully described and claimed in copending application Ser. No. 668,355 filed Sept. 18, 1967.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the invention This invention relates in general to game scoring systems, and relates more particularly to such systems for automatically scoring a bowling game.

Description of the prior art There is disclosed in US. Pats. 3,140,872 and 3,295,849 a bowling sensing and scoring system in which the pins are optically scanned after each ball is bowled and a measure of the pins remaining standing is provided. This measure of pins standing is then utilized for a display of standing pins and is also utilized in an automatic scoring system. For the scoring system, the pin standing count is converted to a pin fall count using complement arithmetic techniques, and this pin fall count is used to provide measures of the Ball 1, Ball 2 and player total scores, taking into account all of the complex scoring situations which arise in automatic bowling scoring because of the eifects of diiferent bonuses for Strikes and Spares, the occurrence of a Foul by a bowler, etc.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The systems of the above patents give satisfactory operation for bowling scoring, but there are several areas in which they could be improved for more useful operation. As one example, it is desirable to obtain a measure of the pin fall count immediately after a ball is bowled, rather than a pin standing count. Further, this pin fall count is preferably arranged by pin position and is of such a nature that a serial readout of the pin fall count may be obtained. This serial readout pulse train may then be employed in the different components of the system which keep track of the various scores.

In accordance with this invention, the output from the pin sensing circuitry, which output represents standing pins, is supplied to a shift register having ten different positions corresponding to the ten pins. Each register position receives a True input for a standing pin in the corresponding pin position, and provides an output from this register position which is the opposite of the input from the pin sensing circuitry. Thus, if a True input is supplied, indicating a standing pin, the output for that register position is False. Conversely, if a pin at a given position is down, the input to that register position is False and the output from that position is True. Thus, the output lines of the register represent a measure of pin fall, since each of these lines is True for a fallen pin. This information is stored in the register by pin position and may be utilized from the register for a number of purposes, including a speedup operation for the automatic pinsetting equipment when a Strike or a Spare is detected, or for providing a record of the pins down on the first ball of each frame and/or the total pins down for each frame.

Additionally, this information in the register may be read out serially by shifting the register to produce an output pulse train. This pulse train, representing pin fall by pin position, is then used in the scoring system to provide measures of the first and second ball pin falls, as well as provide signals to the components which maintain a count of the players total score, and a team score if team bowling is involved.

As an additional feature of the invention, two separate counter/printer units are provided for the Ball 1 and Ball 2 scores. The pin fall count for Ball 1 is supplied after Ball 1 to the Ball 1 counter, and the counter complement for this pin fall is supplied to the Ball 2 counter. By counter complement is meant the counter position which represents the complement of the Ball 1 pin fall in whatever numbering position or system the counter employs. Thus, if the counter has 12 positions, a pin fall of 4 on Ball 1 results in the 12 complement of 4, or 8, being stored in the Ball 2 counter. After Ball 2, the pin fall count (which is now the total fall for both balls) is supplied to the Ball 2 counter. Since the Ball 2 counter had previously stored the counter complement for the Ball 1 count, supplying the total count to this counter has the effect of subtracting the Ball 1 count from the total count and setting the Ball 2 counter to the proper figure for the pin fall on Ball 2. Thus, the Ball 2 count is obtained directly from the total pin fall count after Ball 2, without requiring the use of any additional storage circuitry or any additional arithmetic operations.

An additional feature of this invention is a novel memory and detection circuitry for Strikes and Spares which permits the use of only two memory units for detecting and storing whether a player had a previous Spare, a previous Strike or two previous Strikes.

A further feature of the invention involves the novel use of two counters, together with associated logic circuitry, for providing the proper bonus measures for a player after a Spare or Strikes, particularly in the case of a Foul on Ball 2 where that player had one or two previous strikes.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a circuit diagram in block diagram form illustrating the complete pin sensing and scoring system;

FIG. 2 is a circuit diagram illustrating the pin fall detecting circuitry which provides a measure of pin fall by pin position;

FIGS. 3A and 3B, when laid bottom to top, represent a flow chart illustrating the sequence of operations for different occurrences during scoring of a bowling game in accordance with this invention;

FIG. 4 is a circuit diagram of the Strike-Spare memory and detection portion of the invention; and

FIG. 5 is a circuit diagram showing the operation of the two counters in maintaining a proper measure of a players score for Strikes and Spares.

3 DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring to FIG. 1, there is shown a schematic diagram of the pin detecting and scoring equipment of this invention. The following generalized description will be given first as an aid in understanding the overall opera tion of the system.

In the description and drawings, the following abbreviations and symbols are used and have the indicated meaning:

Additionally, the inputs to a number of networks and different portions of the flow chart of FIGS. 3A and 3B are labelled with Boolean algebra expressions in which a plus sign (-1-) represents a logical or and a dot indicates a logical and. Within the block symbols of the drawings, the plus sign has its conventional algebraic meaning of plus and the minus sign has its conventional algebraic meaning of minus.

Additionally, numbers in parentheses after a legend on an input line indicate the state number of the control state counter during which a signal or event occurs.

The system includes means indicated at 11 for detecting the pins downed. This information is in the form of a train of pulses, each pulse representing a downed pin and the position of the pulse in the train representing the number of the downed pin. This pulse train is fed to a word generator network 12 where it is combined with other Signals to produce a data word. These other signals include the following: a Start pulse, a Foul pulse, a pulse train having a number of pulses corresponding to the downed pins, and a Stop pulse. This word may also include a Lane indication to signify which of the two lanes the word is from, but this is not shown in the present example for purposes of simplicity.

The output from word generator 12 is supplied, either directly or through a data link, to a word decoding network 16 where the different portions of the word are separated. Thus, Start appears on output line 16a, a Foul indication on line 1612, a Stop on line .160, and the pin fall count on line 16a.

The Start and Stop pulses precede and follow the count pulse train, respectively, and are supplied to a control state counter 17. Control state counter 17 may be of any suitable type capable of passing through a series of con trol states in response to predetermined input signals or conditions, and producing a different output signal for each of the control states. In the present embodiment, it is assumed that counter 17 has fifteen different control states. These output signals appear on the output lines indicated in FIG. 1, and are utilized to control different operations in the system. Counter 17 also receives an input from a source of clock pulses 18, which pulses are operative to advance the counter under certain circumstances. It is important to note that counter 17 does not always proceed through the entire sequence of its control states on a given cycle, and that it may proceed forward through different states in dependence upon the occurrence of different events in the bowling game, as will be brought out in more detail below.

The system includes a ball flip flop 20 having one output line B1 which is True during Ball 1 and another output line B2 which is True during Ball 2. Flip flop 20 is reset by a reset pulse during control state 14.

The count pulses from network 16, or selected modifications thereof, are supplied to a number of units of the system, including a Ball 1 counter 21, a Ball 2 counter 22, a Player Total counter 26, and a Team Total counter 27. As indicated by their names, the Ball 1 counter stores a number or symbol corresponding to the pin fall on Ball 1, the Ball 2 counter ultimately stores a number or symbol corresponding to the pin fall on Ball 2, the Player Total counter stores a running count of a given players score as the game progresses, and the Team Total counter carries a running count of the total of the scores of all the players on a given team. As will be understood, league bowling is generally carried on with two teams of five players each, using adjacent alleys alternately. The scoring system of the present invention is capable of keeping track of the scores of each of the five players on each team, as well as the total score for each team. However, for the sake of simplifying the drawings and the necessary explanation, the circuitry for only one such player and team is shown and described, but it will be understood that the system will usually include equipment for maintaining the individual scores of the other players as well as the total score of another team.

The Ball 1 and Ball 2 counters are preferably a counting module type counter having a printing/counting wheel which is indexable in response to electrical signals or pulses supplied thereto to position different ones of the characters on the wheel at a printing position. As more fully described in copending application Ser. No. 648,863, referred to above, these counters cooperate with printing means for producing a visible impression on a suitable record and display member of the character in printing position, to provide a displayable image of the bowling score as the game progresses and a permanent record after completion of the game.

The Ball 1 counter may contain the following characters in the following sequence on the character wheel: F (for foul), (for dash) the digits 1 through 9, and X (for strike). The Ball 2 counter may have provided on its character wheel the same characters as the Ball 1 counter except for the substitution of the Spare symbol for the Strike symbol. Thus, each of the character wheels of the Ball 1 and Ball 2 counters has 12 positions, and these counters are resettable to the home or Foul position in response to resetting pulses. Counters 21 and 22 serve as memories for the scores on the appropriate balls, and the Ball 2 counter stores the complement of the Ball 1 score after the bowling of Ball 1 to facilitate obtaining the Ball 2 score after rolling Ball 2, as will be discussed further below.

Player total counter 26 is also preferably a counting module type counter having three digit positions for maintaining the cumulative score of a given player as the game progresses. This counter also cooperates with printing means for printing a given players score on a record member for display and/or record purposes at the appropriate times as the game progresses.

The details of the printing mechanism will not be described here because they are fully set forth in the aboveidentified application Ser. No. 648,863. However, in general, a shuttle carries the record members to be printed and positions them so that the appropriate frame space on the record members is positioned in printing cooperation with the stationary counters. Print hammer means, indicated at 30, associated with the appropriate one or ones of the counters are then actuated to produce a visible impression on the record members of the characters disposed in printing position on the selected counters. The shuttle then returns the record members to a home position to await the next printing cycle.

The shuttle is driven by a motor having suitable controls, represented schematically at 31 in FIG. 1, to position the shuttle at the desired position and to provide appropriate signals indicating that the shuttle has returned to the home position (shuttle home). Such controls also include a frame compare network, represented at 32 in FIG. 1, for comparing the frame reached by the shuttle with the correct frame for the particular score to be printed, to insure that printing occurs in the proper frame. The frame compare network receives an input from a frame memory network 33 which keeps track of the particular frame in which each bowler is bowling. This memory is advanced after each frame by an advance frame pulse appearing during control state 14 of counter 17, as indicated by the input line 33a to memory 33.

Thus, in summary, a count of the pins down on each ball is detected by the system and supplied to the appropriate counters. At the proper time, the shuttle is moved to position the record members at the proper frame position under the counters and printing occurs on the record members. This procedure continues through the game, with the Ball 1, Ball 2 and player totals being printed as the game progresses. One of the record members being printed may be used for display purposes to provide an easily visible record of the score. The team total score being accumulated in counter 27 is not generally printed until completion of the game, but the team total information may be displayed as the game progresses by means of a display as described in copending application Ser. No. 668,355.

PIN FALL DETECTION The pin fall sensing employed is preferably that taught and claimed in US. Pat. 3,140,872, assigned to the same assignee as the present application. In general, a zone technique is used in which the pins are selectively illuminated by four flasher lamps which are fired in sequence. Light reflected from standing pins is detected by four photodetectors, and by properly positioning the flashers and the photodetectors, a unique combination of one flasher and one photodetector is provided for each pin position. Thus, the outputs of the photodetectors represent standing pins.

As shown in FIG. 2, the flashers FL1, FL2, FL3, and FL4 are energized from a flashing timing signal generator 41 in response to a ball signal received on line 40. This signal is generated in response to a ball hitting the rear curtain, indicating that a ball has been bowled, and is delayed in a delay network 42 for a predetermined interval prior to energizing generator 41. This delay is to provide time for all pins to stabilize and is of the order of 3 seconds duration for ABC play. After this delay, the flashers are fired sequentially to sequentially illuminate different ones of the standing pins. As each flasher is fired, a corresponding pulse is generated by one of devices S1, S2, S3, S4 and supplied to selected ones of a plurality of AND gates A1 through A10. These AND gates also receive selected inputs from the outputs of photodetectors PAl, PA2, PA3 and PA4, and are operative to pass a signal therethrough when both inputs coincide in time.

The outputs from the AND gates are supplied to the different upper inputs of a ten position shift register 44. Register 44 is such that when it receives inputs on the upper terminals 44a, its lower terminals 44b assume the opposite state. Thus, if AND gate A1 passes a True pulse to the Pin #1 position (P1) of register 44, the corresponding lower terminal for P1 will assume a False value. Since AND gates A1 through A pass pulses only when their associated pins are standing, as detected by the photodetectors in conjunction with the flashers, the upper inputs to register 44 will be True for those positions having standing pins. Correspondingly, the lower output terminals of register .44 will be False for each standing pin and True for each fallen pin. Thus, the lower output lines 44b for register 44 correspond to a pin fall count, arranged by pin position. This pin fall information is utilized for pin count information to the scoring system, and may also be utilized for a strike-spare speedup control in the following manner.

All of the lower output lines 44b are supplied to a suitable device, such as a 10 input AND gate 46, which is operative to produce an output when all of its input lines are True. Since all the input lines will be True only when all pins are down, AND gate 46 will produce an output only upon occurrence of a Strike (first ball) or a Spare (second ball), and this signal from gate 46 may be utilized to speed up the action of the pinsetter. Most pinsetting machines operate to first feel for standing pins prior to initiating a raking action after the first ball. By utilizing the signal from gate 46, indicating that all pins are down, this feeling step in the pin setting sequence may be eliminated, so that the pinsetter may proceed immediately to rake away the fallen pins and set a new deck of pins in position. This speedup feature will be of particular significance in those machines in which the feeling step is a part of the score sensing operation for automatic scoring, and must be performed after both the first and the second balls.

This information available from register 44 concerning fallen pins may also be utilized in a number of other ways. For example, the output from register 44 may be supplied to a printing or recording device which would provide information as to the pins down for the first ball and for the frame. This information could be printed or recorded on a suitable card, such as the card 47 shown in FIG. 2, or other record member, having the different pin positions thereon, so as to provide a bowler at the end of the game with an indication of the pins which he missed during the game. This could aid in pinpointing problem areas for a bowler and assist him in correcting the problem.

To read out the pin fall count from register 44, a shift input pulse is supplied on an input line 44c. As is wellknown in the art, this causes the contents of the register to be successively shifted through the register (from left to right in this case), so that there appears on an output line 44d a train of pulses corresponding to the pin fall count. That is, a pulse will appear in the train for each pin down, while no pulse will appear for a standing pin. Thus, the output train from register 44 on output line 44d represents the pin fall by pin position. This output pulse train is utilized in the scoring system in the following manner.

BALL 1 AND BALL 2 COUNTERS The output pulse train on line 44d, corresponding to the pin fall count, is supplied through word generator 12 to word detecting network 16 in FIG. 1, where it is combined and then decoded as stated before to produce a Start pulse preceding the pin count, a Foul indication, the pin fall count, and a Stop pulse. This signal train may also include a Lane indication where two lanes are used as in league matches, but this is not shown in the present system for purposes of simplicity.

Referring to the flow chart of FIG. 3, it will be seen that at the start of a cycle, control state counter 17 is in a reset state. When the Start code is detected on line 16a, counter 17 moves to control state 2 during which reading of the word, including the pin fall pulses, and the Foul indication, occurs. Assume, for example, that 4 pins were knocked down on Ball 1 and that no Foul occurred. Thus, during state 2, the following operations would occur. The pin fall count on line 16d would pass through an AND gate 51, since no Foul occurred, and would be supplied to a network 52 which is operative to add 1 to the pin fall count on Ball 1. The count is thus increased by l in network 52 and supplied to Ball 1 counter 21. In the present case, assuming a pin fall of 4 on the first ball, a count of is thus added to counter 21 in this manner. Since counter 21 was in the reset or Foul position at the start of the operation, these five pulses advance the counter through the dash position and the digits 1, 2 and 3 to the 4 position. Thus, counter 21 is set with the number of pins knocked down on the first ball and is in a position to print that number as the first ball score when printing occurs.

During this same time, the pin fall count is supplied to a network 53 which is operative to subtract the pin fall from and add 1 thereto, provided the bowler is not in Frame 11 with a previous Spare or in Frame 12. Thus, in the present example, the pin count of four is subtracted from ten and one added thereto, giving a total of 7 which is supplied from network 53 to the Ball 2 counter 22. It will be seen that this count of 7 will advance counter 22 from the Foul position through the dash position to the digit 6.

Also simultaneously with the above, the pin count is supplied to a network 54 which is operative to subtract the count from ten and add two thereto. The output from network 54 is supplied to a pin counter 56 which is utilized in various operations and will be described more in detail below. For the present, it is sufficient to note that a count of 8 is entered into pin counter 56 from network 54, this counter previously having been cleared or reset to zero at the start of state 2, as shown in FIG. 3A. Pin counter 56 has one output line 56a which is True when the counter has a count of 2 therein (P.C.=2), and another output line 56!) which is True when the counter has a count of 12 therein (P.C.=12). The P.C.:2 line 56a is supplied as an input to a strike-spare memory and detect unit 50, which will be described more in detail below.

Upon detection of the Stop code in the word, the control state counter switches to state 3 as shown in FIG. 3A. For the present example, the significant point is that an additional count of one is added to the Ball 2 counter 22 at this time, provided that the first ball was not a strike. Thus, a count of one is added from a network 57 to counter 22, bringing the digit 7 to the printing position.

In the present example, counter 17 then switches to control state 14, as shown by the leftmost branch below state 3 in FIG. 3A. In state 14 for Ball 1, the ball flip flop is switched from Ball 1 to Ball 2, and the counter then advances on the next clock to state 15 and on the next clock back to state 1 or reset, awaiting the bowling of Ball 2 for that frame.

When the second ball is rolled, counter 17 proceeds to state 2 upon detection of the Start code. During this state, with Ball 2 and no foul, pin counter 56 is first cleared and then has a quantity corresponding to ten minus the pin count plus two stored therein. Thus, the 8 previously in this counter from Ball 1 is removed, and assuming that an additional 5 pins are knocked down on the second ball, for a total count of 9 for the two balls, a count of 3 is placed in counter 56 at this time.

This total count of pins down is entered at this time in the Player Total counter 26 and the Team Total counter 27. The count from gate 51 passes through a gate 36 which is enabled on Ball 2. The count then passes through a network identified as 37 in which various bonus amounts may be added to the count, and other operations performed. This network is described later in connection with FIG. 5 and is not pertinent at the present time since no bonus pins are involved. The count of 9 thus enters both counter 26, 27 at this time.

At this same time, the pin count (which is now 9) has 1 added thereto in a network 60 and is supplied to the Ball 2 counter 22. It will be recalled that counter 22 was last set at the 7 position, so that the addition of 10 counts thereto from network 60 will advance this counter through the 8, 9 and Spare position back to the Foul position and then on through the dash position and the digits 1, 2, 3, and 4 to the digit 5 position. Counter 22 is thus set at the proper figure representing the pin fall on Ball 2. This use of the complement of the Ball 1 score in Ball 2 counter 22 permits obtaining the Ball 2 count itself directly upon receiving the total count after Ball 2, without requiring any additional arithmetic operations or the use of an additional cycle.

For Ball 2, counter 17 proceeds to state 4 and then on the next clock pulse to state 5. During state 5, a pulse is sent on the shuttle actuate line to shutttle motor control network 31 to initiate movement of the shuttle to printing position. After starting the shuttle, counter 17 proceeds to state 9 during which a frame compare operation is carried out by frame compare network 32 and control network 31. When this compare indicates that the shuttle has reached the proper position to locate the record member with the appropriate frame area in printing cooperation with the printing elements, the shuttle motion is stopped. After allowing a short time delay for the shuttle motion to entirely subside, represented by the time delay of flip flop TDFF2 in FIG. 3A, counter 17 proceeds to state 10. During this state, printing of the Ball 1 and Ball 2 counts occurs by actuating the print hammers through network to strike the record members against the characters in printing position on counters 21, 22.

From state 10 in the present situation, counter 17 proceeds to state 12 as indicated by the right hand branch (since it is Ball 2 and not frame 11 and not a previous Spare). During state 12, the player total is printed by actuating the appropriate print hammer to strike the record member against the characters in printing position on Player Total counter 26. This printing occurs while the shuttle remains positioned at the proper frame location, and upon its completion the record member contains a record of the individual scores for the two balls as well as the player total.

In use of the system by more than one bowler, as

would be the usual practice, each bowler would identify himself to the system prior to bowling by pushing his appropriate player switch out of a number of such switches provided on a console. The system is preferably arranged so that each player must identify himself to the system prior to each frame to prevent improper pin credit and to prevent more than the permitted number of balls being rolled by a given player. This may be accomplished in a number of ways, such as by preventing the pinsetters rake from rising above the pins if proper identification is not made, or by displaying a flag which is readily visible to the bowler or which blocks his view of the pins.

STRIKE-SPARE DETECT AND MEMORY The details of the strike-spare detect and memory of the present invention will next be discussed. This unit is indicated schematically at in FIG. 1, and is shown in more detail in FIG. 4. The unit ncludes three AND gates 61, 62, and 63. AND gate 61 receives a one input from the Ball 2 output of the ball flip flop 20 and receives a second input indicating either a strike or a spare. This latter output input is obtained from pin counter 56 when the count in this counter is equal to 2 (P.C.=2). It wil be recalled that on both Ball 1 and Ball 2, the pin fall count was subtracted from ten and two was added thereto for insertion into the pin counter. Thus, for either a strike or a spare, resulting in a pin fall count of 10, pin counter 56 receives a count of 2 and output line 56a thereof is energized and supplied to gate 61. Thus, gate 61 will be enabled when both its Ball 2 and P.C. =2 input lines are True, so that its output line is True upon occurrence of these conditions, indicating a Spare.

Gate 63 receives one input from this same line from pin counter 56 and receives another input from the Ball 1 line of flip flop 20. Gate 63 is enabled when both of these inputs are True, so that the output of this gate is True upon occurrence of a Strike (all pins down on the first ball).

Gate 62 receives one input from the Ball 1 output of flip flop and receives another input from the strike memory indicating that the player had a previous strike (PX). The output of gate 62 will be True on Ball 1 when that player had a previous Strike.

The outputs from gates 61, 62 are connected together and supplied as one input to a flip flop 66. These gate outputs are also inverted in an inverter 67 and supplied as another input to fiip flop 66. Flip flop 66 receives a third input from the clock during state 14 for either Ball 2 or a strike on Ball 1. This third input is required to cause device 66 to produce a True output. Device 66 has a single output line 66a which is True only when its upper input line is True and a clock signal exists on its third or middle input line (Ball 2 or a Strike on Ball 1).

The output from gate 63 is supplied to the upper input terminal of a flip flop 68 and is also inverted in an inverter 69 and supplied to the lower input terminal of device 68. The third input to device 68 is supplied from the clock in a manner similar to that for device 66, during state 14 for either Ball 2 or a Strike on Ball 1. The single output line 68a of device 68 becomes True during state 14 when the upper input is True (indicating a Strike).

The outputs from devices 66, 68 are decoded in the following manner to determine which of the conditions Spare. Strike or Two Strikes has occurred. The output lines 66a, 68a are selectively connected to the inputs of three decoding AND gates 71, 72, 73. For gate 71, line 66a is connected directly as one input thereto while the signal on line 68a is inverted before being supplied thereto. Thus, gate 71 has a True output only when line 66a is True and line 68a is False (because of the inversion of the signal on this latter line). Thus, output line 71a is True only for occurrence of a Spare.

For gate 72, line 68a is connected directly thereto as one input, while the signal on line 66a is inverted prior to being supplied as an input to this gate. The output of gate 72 is thus True only when the signal on line 68a is True and the signal on line 66a is False. The output of gate 72 is thus True only upon occurrence of a Strike.

For gate 73, the signals on lines 66a, 6811 are both supplied directly thereto, so that gate 73 has a True output only when both of these signals are True. Since line 68a is True only during Ball 1 for a Strike and line 66a is True only during Ball 1 when a previous strike had occurred, the signals on lines 66a, 68a are True simultaneously only when a Strike occurs which had been immediately preceded by a Strike (XX).

The output lines 71a, 72a, 73a thus represent, respectively, indications of a Spare, a Strike, and two successive Strikes. The signals on these lines are then supplied to the appropriate memory for that particular player so that the occurrences represented by these signals may be utilized subsequently. The above decoding action occurs during state 14 upon completion of the other operations, and the Strike, Spare and two Strike indications provided on lines 71a, 72a, 73a are supplied back to memory for use in the subsequent frame or frames. That is, the previous Strike signal (PX) appearing as the lower input to AND gate 62 in FIG. 4, for example, represents the storage in memory of the Strike signal appearing on line 72a during the previous frame for that player. It will also be understood that for regular league play involving ten players, separate Strike-Spare memory and detection circuitry similar to that represented by elements 61, 62, 63, 66, '67, 6 8 and 69 in FIG. 4 will be provided for each player, while all of the memories and detecting circuitry may utilize common decoding circuitry represented by gates 71, 72 and 73.

The circuitry of the present invention thus requires only the two flip flops 66, 68 and associated logic circuitry to handle the detection of three occurrences, Spare, Strike or two successive Strikes. This is in contrast to the prior art devices which required separate detection and memory elements for each of these three occurrences.

PIN COUNTER AND TEN COUNTER The operation of the pin counter and the ten counter will now be presented, particularly in connection with the use of these elements to obtain the proper Ball 1 score after a foul on Ball 2. It will be recalled that the pin fall for Ball 1 is not entered into the Player Total counter or Team Total counter after rolling Ball 1, and that in normal operation, in the absence of a Foul on Ball 2, the total pin fall count after Ball 2 is detected and supplied to the Player Total and Team Total counters. However, when a Foul occurs of Ball 2, none of the pins knocked down on this ball can count in the score, and in fact the pin fall count for a Ball 2 Foul is zero, since the count on line 16d (FIG. 1) is blocked in gate 51 by the absence of a Not Foul signal input to this gate. Thus, there is no pin fall count available, even for the Ball 1 pin fall, after a Ball 2 Foul. Measures of the Ball 1 pin fall are, of course, stored in the Ball 1 and Ball 2 counters 21 and 22, but these are not utilized in the present discussion.

It will be recalled that during state 2 for Ball 1, the quantity of ten minus the Ball 1 pin fall count plus 2 was placed in pin counter 56 through network 54. For the assumed pin fall of 4 on the first ball, this resulted in pin counter 56 being set to a count of 8.

On Ball 2, Where there is no Foul, this count of 8 is cleared from the pin counter during state 2, as indicated in the flow chart of FIG. 3A. However, when a Foul does occur on Ball 2, this count is not cleared from the pin counter and is utilized to recover the Ball 1 count in the following manner.

Referring to FIG. 5, an AND gate 81 is connected through an OR gate 82 to the input of pin counter 56-. Gate 81 receives the inputs labelled on its input lines during state 4 of counter 17, and is operative to pass clook pulses from clock 18 through the gate when all of the labelled lines are True. That is, during state 4, gate 81 receives a Ball 2 signal, a Foul signal, and pin counter 56 not equal to 12 signal. All of these conditions exist in the present example of a Foul on Ball 2, since the pin counter is equal to 8 rather than 12, so that gate 81 starts to pass clock pulses through gate 81 and gate 82 to ad Vance the count in pin counter 56.

Simultaneously with this action in state 4, another gate 84 passes clock pulses from line 81a to the input of a ten counter 86. Ten counter 86 actually counts to 12 and has one output line 8661 which is True when the counter output is equal to 10 and has another output line 86b which is True when the counter output is equal to 12.

Thus, in the present example, gate 84 will start passing clock pulses to ten counter 86 simultaneously with gates 81, 82 beginning to pass clock pulses to pin counter 56, ten counter 86 having just been reset to zero during state 3.

An additional gate 87 is also connected to output line 81a and thus passes these clock pulses from output line 81a to Player Total Counter 26 and the Team Total Counter 27.

Thus, clock pulses are supplied simultaneously through gate 81 to pin counter 56, ten counter 86 and the Player Total counter 26 and Team Total counter 27. After four 1 1 such pulses have been supplied to counter 56, its count will have advanced from its previous setting of 8 to a count of 12, thus rendering its output line 56b False and thereby closing gate 81 to shut 01f the supply of clock pulses to gates 82, '84 and 8 7 from line 81a Thus, it will be seen that 4 clock pulses were passed to both the Player Total counter and the Team Total counter, increasing the counts in each of these counters by 4. This count of 4 represents the pin fall count on Ball 1 to which the bowler is entitled, so that the player score and team score in these counters are correct. The Ball 2 counter will be reset to the Foul position during this portion of the cycle so as to accurately reflect the Ball 2 score prior to printing.

The system would then proceed to state 5, where the pin counter is cleared, and would then move to state 9 where the ten counter is cleared and shuttle motion is started to initiate printing. This printing would proceed as described above to first print the Ball 1 and Ball 2 scores (4 and F) and then print the Player Total. The system would then proceed through the remainder of its steps for a printing operation and then would return to the reset state awaiting the roll of another ball.

As another example of the system operation, assume that a bowler had a Strike on his first ball in the first frame. As indicated above, this would cause printing of the Strike symbol (X) by the Ball 1 counter and the dash symbol by the Ball 2 counter. However, no player total would be printed at this time, because the players score for the first frame cannot be determined until rolling of the two bonus balls to which he is entitled as a result of the Strike. It will be understood that these two bonus balls are the same as the two balls for the second frame, and that the score for these bonus balls will be the same as the score for the next two balls in Frame 2. The 10 pin count for the Strike is entered into the Player Total Counter and Team Total Counter in the following manner. During state 11 of the frame in which the Strike was rolled, and after printing the Strike and dash symbols as described above, gates 84 and 87 are enabled when the count in ten counter 86 is not equal to 10. Since this counter was just cleared in state 9, its count is zero so that gate 84 begins passing clock pulses to counter 86, and gate 87 begins passing clock pulses to counters 26 and 27. Ten such clock pulses are passed before the ten counter output reaches 10 to thereby close gates 84 and 87. These 10 pulses which are passed thus increase the Player Count and Team Total by 10 to provide proper credit for the Strike.

Assume further that on the first ball in the second frame, the player knocks down 4 pins and that he Fouls on the second ball in that frame. Thus, his score should be 14 for Frame 1 (the 10 for the Strike and 4 more for the first bonus ball, the second bonus ball count being zero because of the Foul). For the second frame, his score is 4, the second ball count again being zero because of the Foul for a total score at the end of the second frame of 18.

The description above indicates how the first count of 4 was added to the Player Total counter after the Foul. This would bring the Player Total count to 14, and this information would then be printed during state 7 as the Player Total count for Frame 1, as indicated in FIG. 3A. However, it is necessary to add another count of 4 to the Player Total and Team Total counts to bring the Player Counter up to 18 to represent the players score at the end of Frame 2, and to bring the Team Total counter to the proper figure. This is accomplished in the following manner.

Pin counter 56 will have been cleared in state 5 with a Foul on Ball 2, as indicated by the input lines thereto, so that this counter is now set to zero. Ten counter 86, however, will still have therein the count of 4 which was placed therein as described above. In state 8, gate 84 receives an enabling input for a Foul on Ball 2 when the ten counter count is not equal to 12. Since this count is not equal to 12, gate 84 is enabled to pass clock pulses to ten counter 86, advancing its count from the present count of 4 therein. At the same time in state 8, a gate 91 receives enabling pulses on Ball 2 when the pin counter count is not equal to 12. This gate is thus enabled to pass clock pulses through gate 82 to pin counter 56 to advance the count therein from zero. These same clock pulses from gate 91 are also supplied as inputs to AND gates 93, 94, but neither of these gates is enabled at this time because neither of their other respective inputs, representing Not Foul for gate 93 and Ten Counter equal to 1'2 for gate 94, is enabled at this time. Gates 93, 94 have a common output line 94a which is connected as an enabling input to gate 87, for a purpose which will be discussed below.

Clock pulses will thus be added to counters 56 and 86 until 8 such pulses have been added to counter 86 to bring the count therein up to 12. When this count is reached, the input line to gate 84 which is True only when the ten counter count is not equal to 12 becomes False to close gate 84 and stop any further clock pulses to counter 86. At this same time, output line 86b of counter 86 becomes True and enables gate 94, thereby permitting clock pulses from gate 91 to pass therethrough to output line 94a. These clock pulses are supplied on line 94a to gate 87 and pass therethrough to the Player Total and Team Total counters. These pulses thus add to the counts in these counters as long as the pulses continue.

It will be seen that the 8 clock pulses which advanced the ten counter from 4 to 12 also advanced the pin counter from zero to 8. Clock pulses continue to be supplied to pin counter 56 so that this counter moves up until a count of 12 is reached, representing the addition of 4 more pulses after the ten counter was shut off. These 4 pulses will also be added to the Player Total and Team Total counters through gates 91 and 94 as described above.

When the pin counter count reaches 12, gate 91 is closed, thereby shutting off any additional pulses to the Player Total and Team Total counters through gates 94 and 87. This count of 12 and closing of gate 91 will also stop the flow of clock pulses to pin counter 56, so that the count in this counter remains at its value of 12 at this time. Thus, the additional count of 4 is properly added to the Player Total and Team Total counters to bring them up to the proper values.

In the above description of a Strike operation, it will be seen that after rolling the two balls following the Strike, the printer had to first print in the Frame 1 area the Player Total for Frame 1 and then move to Frame 2 to print the Ball 1 and Ball 2 counts as well as the Player Total. This requires that the printer mechanism be capable of positioning the record members at dilferent frame positions in dependence upon the type of score information to be printed. This is indicated in FIG. 3A during control state 6 where a compare can be made for either the present frame minus 1 (F 1) in the case of a Strike or for the present frame minus 2 (F-2) in the case of two successive Strikes. This will result in proper positioning of the shuttle mechanism and record members relative to the current frame being bowled.

It will also be noted that the drawings refer in several places to Frame 11 (F11) and Frame 12 (F12). This terminology is used to accommodate the situation where a Strike or Spare occurs in Frame 10. If a Spare occurs in Frame 10, Frame 11 is utilized to score the result of the bonus ball to Which the Spare entitled the bowler. If a Strike is rolled in Frame 10, Frame 11 is utilized to score the two bonus balls to which the bowler is entitled, provided that the first such bonus ball is not also a Strike. If the first bonus ball is a Strike, it alone is scored in Frame 11 and the second bonus ball is scored in Frame 12.

13 From the above description, as well as the circuits shown and the flow diagram of FIGS. 3A and 3B, it will be seen that all of the other operations necessary to properly score a bowling game may be accomplished by the system of the present invention.

PROVISIONAL BALL This circuitry is shown functionally in the flow chart of FIG. 3A and is used where there is a dispute as to the score on a given ball, and a second or provisional is rolled. In this situation, a Provisional Ball switch (not shown) is depressed prior to rolling the provisional ball. Pressing of this switch has the effect of bypassing the scoring and computing circuitry for the results of the provisional ball so that no entry is made to the system for that ball. The results of the provisional ball may be noted manually and referred to later when the dispute is settled. This switch and its operation permits the rolling of the provisional ball without interfering with the regular scoring and without requiring that the dispute be settled before continuing with the game.

FRAME ADVANCE The system may also be provided with a player-operated Frame Advance switch. This procedure would be used where a player arrived late for the game, thus forfeiting any score for the frames missed, in accordance with ABC rules for some tournament play. In this situation, the Frame Advance switch (not shown) is operable, after the player identifies himself by actuating his player switch, to advance the frame memory for that particular player once for each switch actuation and to enter a score of zero for the player in each frame so advanced. After the number of switch operations required to bring the late player to the current frame being bowled, the late player may commence regular bowling, and the system will show him in the proper frame and with a score of zero up to that frame.

TEAM TOTAL S WI I CH A Team Total switch is provided to obtain a print out on the record members of the team total score stored in Team Total counter 27. As indicated earlier, this switch is normally not actuated until completion of the game by all players, so that the total printed represents the team total for the complete game. In fact, the Team Total switch may be interlocked to prevent its actuation until at least completion of Frame by at least one player, thus preventing premature actuation and printing of the team total prior to the game completion. It will be recalled that a running total of the team total scores for each team is preferably continuously displayed for bowler viewing in accordance with the teachings of copending application Ser. No. 668,355.

It will be apparent that many modifications and additions may be made to the system disclosed herein. For example, in connection with the output lines 44b of shift register 44, it will be apparent that in addition tobeing supplied in parallel to gate 46, the signals on these lines may be inverted and supplied to another ten input AND gate. This latter gate will thus have an output only when all pins are standing, and this all pins standing output may be utilized in a number of ways. One such use would be to indicate to the pinsetting equipment that all pins were still standing, such as would occur after Ball 1 or Ball 2 gutter balls, so that the pinsetter need not go through its cycle of feeling and/or raking the pins. This will save wear on the pinsetter, and speed up the availability of that lane for the next bowler.

Additionally, it will be seen that information as to splits may be obtained from the output of register 44. That is, the different output lines 44b may be connected to suitable decoding circuitry for providing indications of all or certain split conditions in accordance with ABC Rule #7. This split information may be displayed and/ or recorded after the first ball of a frame and/ or the end of the frame for use by the bowler in correcting problems.

While the above detailed description has shown, described and pointed out the fundamental novel features of the invention as applied to various embodiments, it will be understood that various omissions and substitutions and changes in the form and details of the device illustrated may be made by those skilled in the art, without departing from the spirit of the invention. It is the intention, therefore, to be limited only as indicated by the scope of the following claims.

What is claimed is:

1. Apparatus for storing a measure of the fallen pins knocked down on each of two successive balls in a bowling game, comprising:

a first ball storage element;

a second ball storage element;

each of said storage elements having an indexable symbol-carrying member which is cyclically movable through a given number of discrete positions in response to count pulses supplied to said storage element to cyclically position different ones of said symbols in an operative position;

pin sensing means for generating a number of count pulses which are a measure of the fallen pins after bowling of each of said successive balls; means for supplying said count pulses to said first ball storage element after bowling the first of said balls for moving said indexable member of said first ball storage element to place in operative position a symbol representing the pin fall on said first ball;

means for supplying to said second ball storage element from said pin sensing means after bowling said first ball, a number of count pulses which is the complement of first ball pin fall relative to the number of said positions of said indexable member of said second ball storage element; and

means for supplying to said second ball storage element from said pin sensing means, after bowling of the second of said balls, a number of count pulses which is related to the total number of fallen pins after bowling of said second ball, whereby said indexable member of said second storage element moves to place in operative position a symbol representing the pins knocked down on said second ball.

2. Apparatus in accordance with claim 1 in which said storage elements comprise counting modules having indexable wheels which are rotatable in response'to said count pulses, each of said wheels having around the periphery thereof digit symbols and symbols representing a Foul and a Strike or Spare.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,980,424 4/ 1961 Sanders et al. 2,988,701 6/ 1961 Clapper 30722l X 3,124,355 3/1964 Mentzer et a1. 3,140,872 7/ 1964 Bolger. 3,243,665 3/ 1966 Payer et a1. 307-221 3,295,849 1/ 1967 Miller et a1. 3,300,213 1/ 1967 Miller. 3,307,848 3/1967 Brackett et a1. 3,309,086 3/1967 Viets et al. 3,375,352 3/1968 House et al. 3,399,297 8/ 1968 Miller.

FOREIGN PATENTS 1,000,902 8/1965 Great Britain.

ANTON O. OECHSLE, Primary Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 235-92 

